


Cuddles

by Sitrus



Category: How I Met Your Mother
Genre: Caretaking, Emetophilia, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Vomiting, emeto, unedited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 13:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11381145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sitrus/pseuds/Sitrus
Summary: When Barney doesn't join the group at MacLaren's like they had planned Robin goes looking for him.





	Cuddles

**Author's Note:**

> Once again I didn't bother to edit stuff before posting... Whoops

Robin unlocked the door to Barney’s apartment not knowing what she’d find inside. She was hoping to find Barney there. Alone. The group had planned to meet up at MacLaren’s like they so often did but Barney hadn’t showed up. After several unanswered phone calls and a two-hour wait Robin had decided to go look for him.

The lights were off when Robin opened the door. Maybe she had been a fool to think she’d find Barney at his own home instead of another bar or a strip club. What had she been thinking? Being home at 10pm wasn’t at all Barney-like.

Robin had already turned to leave when she realised she might have been wrong in assuming a dark apartment meant Barney wasn’t home. She held her breath, listening carefully for the sound she thought she had just heard. Under the city sounds she could make out heavy breathing, and she almost got angry before she realised that was all she heard. No creaking or moaning or even the shifting of sheets; no sounds that implied there were more than one person inside.

Robin turned around again, switching on the lights. The layout of Barney’s apartment made her search easy as the first thing she saw when she looked straight ahead was Barney curled up on his own sofa. His suit jacket was thrown on the backrest in a manner that for Barney was unusually careless and, as if that wasn’t alarming enough, his tie lay haphazardly on top of it. Robin walked closer with slow, careful steps, observing the admittedly distressing sight in front of her.

A closer look on Barney did nothing to ease the tight concern pooling in Robin’s chest. He was shaking, arms wrapped around his abdomen and face twisted in pain. His shirt clung slightly to his skin, the uncovered parts of which looked pale and sweaty. Robin watched as Barney took a deep, careful breath, then swallowed compulsively and took another breath. Just watching made Robin feel nauseous herself.

“Barney?” Robin asked tentatively. Barney cracked open his eyes and looked up at her. Robin thought she saw the tiniest smile pass through his face before he shut is eyes again and breathed out the word “bright”. It took Robin a second or two to process it all.

“I’ll turn the lights back off”, Robin announced as she hurried to the nearest light switch. She didn’t turn them all the way off, making the room dim but still light enough for easy navigation.

“Have you thrown up?” Robin asked as she returned to the sofa, getting a quiet “no” in response. Asking if he felt like he was going to felt redundant seeing how miserable and nauseous he clearly was. 

”Do you want to be alone?” Robin asked. Barney stayed silent but something in his expression changed, prompting Robin to ask another question: ”Do you want me to stay?”

”Yes!” Barney responded. His voice was still quiet but he sounded relieved, moving over to give Robin room on the sofa. As soon as Robin was seated Barney had his head on her lap. Her hands hovered in the air over him for a few seconds before she awkwardly laid one on his upper back and the other on his head. Her touched seemed to help Barney relax despite the increased discomfort moving had caused him. The trembling of his body eased and the pain was less obvious in his expression. Just as Robin started thinking that maybe he would after all be able to drift off to sleep Barney suddenly sat up. One of his hands pressed against his mouth and he sat still for a while, taking deep yet fast breaths.

In the end he wasn’t able to just wait it out. Barney stood up and ran to the bathroom and all Robin could do was watch. She heard him gagging as soon as he was out of her sight and not long after there was the sound of vomit splashing into water. At least he had made there in time.

Barney was still gagging up stomach fluids when Robin finally joined him in the bathroom. She kneeled down beside him, set the glass of water she had got from the kitchen on the floor and lay her hand on his back. Barney’s stomach didn’t calm down even once it was empty and it took him almost another minute to stop dry heaving.

Barney took the water Robin offered into his shaking hands and rinsed his mouth. He waited for a few seconds before taking a small, careful sip, and then another. He seemed exhausted and before either of them realised he had leaned against Robin.

“If you are done vomiting for now lets get you to bed”, Robin said. Normally any reference to beds would earn a dirty comment from Barney but now he only hummed approvingly. Robin helped him stand up and guided him to his bedroom, making him change clothes before letting him collapse on the mattress. Now she only needed to get him some water and bucket and he would be all set for the night.

“Don’t go.” Barney’s voice stopped Robin as she was about leave.

“I’m just going to the kitchen. I’ll be back soon”, Robin said. Barney’s response was barely audible but it was enough to tell Robin Barney was content with her answer, and she left to get the lacking equipment.  
Barney was sitting up on the bed, one hand pressed against his mouth, when Robin returned. His eyes darted to her and the pleading expression made her hurry to his bedside. She handed him the trashcan and as soon as he had it in front of him, Barney was vomiting again. All that came up was a bit of stomach fluids.

“Done?” Robin asked when Barney stopped heaving. He nodded and Robin took the trashcan away from him and placed it on the floor within Barney’s reach. After a small sip of water Barney lay back down.

“Cuddles?”

The straightforwardness of the question took Robin by surprise. She started at Barney for a while not really knowing what to think.

“Fine.”

Robin wasn’t too excited to share a bed with Barney when he was sick like this, nor to get too close to him, and the unclear nature of their relationship made things awkward, but she also couldn’t deny him the comfort. Robin dug through Barney’s clothes to find something even remotely comfortable to change into and joined him on the bed. Barney smelled like vomit and still felt a little clammy to touch but he relaxed visibly when Robin lay down next to him and wrapped her arm around him. It didn’t take long for Barney to drift off to sleep but Robin stayed wide awake, knowing this would be a long night for the both of them.


End file.
